Locomotive-boiler furnace.



J. P. NEFF. LOCOMOTIVE BOILER FURNACE. APPLICATION FILED ocr. I, 1913.

1,138,068, Patented May 4, 1915.

UNXTE- STATES PATENT FFKiE.

JOHN P. NEFF, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY. ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS,

TO ALIERICAN ARCH COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.. A CORPORATION OF DELA- HARE.

LOCOMOTIVE-BOILER FURNACE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 4, 1915.

Be it known that I, Jon P. Nnrr, a eiti zen of the United States, and a resident of East Orange, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in LOCOIllOlJlYQ-llOllQl Furnaces, of which the following is'a speciiication.

My invention relates to improvements in locomotives and has particular referen'ce to improvements in locomotive boiler lire boxes.

The. object of my invention is to increase the. ellicieuey and economy of locomotive boiler lire boxes, to provide a the box in which the burning gases shall be delayed in their passage from the fuel bed to the tines :ailiicicutlv to permit the substantial con'iplction of combustion before the gases escape through the. llues; to provide a simple lire box tinllfitlll 'iltill in which a. ballle wall shall be intcr msed between the fuel bed and the lines which hallle. wall shall serve to prevent the direct flow of gases from the fuel bed to the lines; which shall also serve to eliminate sparks and ciuders from the gases before they cut er the llnes, and which shall be providcd with convenient means for removing the :u-cumnlation of sparks and cinde'rs from the space. between the batlle wall and the l'orward end of the l'irebox.

l'urther object of my invention is to pro\ ide a locomotive lire box, having a rel'raelorv 'l'ront arch, with convenient means l'orh'cuioving the sparks and the cindcrs hich accun'uilatc upon the upper surface of the arch said means being provided without the. necessity of cutting or otherwise iillll llllllllfl the [ire box sheets.

My iniention consists in a locomotive lire box provided with a rcl ractorv lront arch and having; a cinder outlet entering the space betucen th a tch and tlnc sheet and extending downwardly to and through the grate and through which the accumulation of cinders and other solid particles may be, renamed from the space between the arch and the fine sheet. y

My invention also consists in the several combinations and arrangement of parts and in the features of construction by which the above and other objects are. attained and all as lufrcinat'ter described and. particularly pointed out in tl iappcndcd claim.

My invention will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in whieh-- Figure l. is a central, vertical, longitudr nal section of a firebox equipped \"ith a front arch and embodying my invention; Fig. 2 a horizontal section of the fire box on the lin; of Fig. 1; Fig. is a transverse, vertie: 1 section of the fire box on the line l-sfl of Fig. 1.

The principal function of a front arch as usually installed or provided in a locomotive boiler tire box is to prevent the. direct flow of the gases of combustion from the fuel bed to the tlues. in other words, to battle the gases of eon'ibustion as they are. drawn upward from the fuel bed by the strong artilicial drafts now employed in locomotive practice. These. strong drafts tend to draw the gases of combustion out of the tire box through the. tines before the combustion is entirely completed and before the burned gases have had sullieient time to give up their heat through the walls ofthe fire box to the water in the boiler and front arches are consequently installed to prevent these objectionable results of the strong draft and to cause the tire. box gases to flow rearwardly in the fire box to and against the rear sheet and then forward along the side sheets and in contact with the. crown sheet whereby they distribute their heat to and throughout the whole interior surtace of the tire box in such a n anner that they most elliciently .e'ive up their heat to the water in the boiler. Another result occurring' from the use of such trout arches is that they tend to cause the gases of combustion to drop their burden ol' rinders or other unbi ned solid fuel particle: upon the. upper side of the arch before the nter the, lines and these unburned particles accumulate onithe upper side. end back of the arclrand between the arch and the line sheet a-iid it/is necessary and desirable that this aecur'nulation of cinders be renamed before they reach such a depth that the can be drawn into or clog the flues of the boiler. It has ,been the practice in some instances to provide cinder outlet openings through thelower end of the arch adjacent to the llue. sheet through which these. cinders and sparks could drop upon the fuel bed, but this has not proven entirely satisfactory for the reason that the accumulation of the cinders and sparks at these points on the bed of fuel serves to 'deaden and side sheets a. from the-flue sheet.

or dampen the fire at these points and consequently the maximum quantity of fuel cannot be consumed. It is therefore necessary from time to time to dislodge this ac cumulation from the fuel bed and as they lie at the extreme distance from the fire door, this dislodging operation is difficult and unsatisfactory. By means of my invention I am enabled to eliminate these undesirable features for the reason that I provide a cinder outlet, pocket or chute which enters the space between the arch and the flue sheet which outlet extends downwardly through the fire box and through the grate and is provided on its lower end with a cover which may happened from time to time and the accumulation of cinders readily removed. The cover on the lower end is necessary to prevent the influx of air at this 'oint.

A fire box A, as illustrated in the drawings, consists of a flue sheet a at the forward end, a rear sheet 11 provided with a fuel door or opening a a crown sheet a Flues a lead forward I have illustrated my invention in connection with a fire box pro vided with longitudinally arranged water circulating tubes B. In the form illustrated, the fire box is provided with four of these tubes. These tubes connect the forward and rear water legs of the boiler and are adapted to increase the circulation of water from the lower to the upper levels of the boiler and thus assist in the generation of steam and as they project through the fire and are surrounded by the burning gases they add materially to the evaporating surface of the fire box. To prevent the strong drafts which are used in locomotives at the present time, drawing the gases of combus tion in a direct path from the fuel bed of the fines, I arrange a refractory arch C in the forward end of the fire box preferably supporting this arch mainly upon the water circulating .1bes. This arch is made up'of a number of. small refractory units, prefer,- ably of a size which may be passed readily throu h the fire door at and I form the arch brick-5c in such a manner that they can be arranged intransverse rows 0 supported by and upon the several tubes. The bricks which I prefer to use are oppositely beveled at their ends and are wedgingly interposed between the tubes-and I further provide bricks c which fill in the spaces between the outer tubes and the side sheets of the fire box. These latter bricks are preferably arranged in an upwardly and outwardly inclined position in which position they maintain themselves by reason of their .wedging shape. This arch preferably abuts the flue sheetat its forward end and projects rearwardly 1n the fire box to about the middle of the length of the fire box and serves to cause the rising fire box gases to flow rearwardly in the fire box in order to get around the rear end of the arch before they rise to the crown sheet. The arch serves the further purpose of becoming highly heated and thereafter assisting in the ignition of the gases and the fuel particles. The arch be ing arranged in an upwardly and rearwardly inclined position, serves practically to divide the fire box A into a main combustion chamber a arranged above the grate a and an auxiliary combustion chamber a between the arch and the flue sheet. The arch rises preferably to about the middle of the height lower part of the'auxiliary combustion space are caused to deposit any burden of unburned fuel particles or cinders which they have been. carrying by reason of the strong draft. These particles naturally full upon the upper or forward downwardly inclined surface of the-arch and they gravitate downwardly to the space betwccfi the lower or forward end of the arch and the flue sheet and there accumulate. permitting the convenient and easy removal of these particles from the lower part of the auxiliary combustion chamber I provide a cinder on tlet D which I preferably arrange centrally of. the fire box,'that is, midway between the two sides, and 1 secure it to the lower part of the flue sheet that is against the rear wall of; the' forward water leg of the fire box. The upper end d, of this cinder outlet or chute projects through the arch between two of the water circulating tubes and in such position that the'accumulation of fuel particles readily gravitates and falls into this cinder'outlet. The lower end d ofthe cinder outlet projects through the grate space and ends below the lower end of the fire box in such position that it can be easily opened for the removal'of the accu mulated-c indcrs. I close the lower end of the cinder outlet by meansof a removable cover d which, in its normal position, closes the lower end of-the cinder outlet and prevents the admission of air at this point. As thus described, my invention accomplishes the necessary or desired results in most instances, but in some fire boxes I find it desirable to project the rear end-of the arch C upwardly toward the crown sheet in .order that the gases of combustion may be retained a long enough time in the main combustion chamber and in such instances I provide the rxhat above the level of the water cirnor the purpose ofinflating mhes at this point. This upwardly extending projection, iil a the arch itself, extends fr m sidu shwt in side sheet and providea an eflicicnt il'illlSHjlI-fl refrnuiory hniiln in the fire 210x. his iipwnrdi w extending projection wen-r35 not, only to more ciiicientl v imiile ie. fire ho'x gases out also to cause them to deposit the unburned fuel par tiolos or (iiZHiMS which ill-9f, may he carrying, for, as; 'thv gas Q How mvr Kill, up of this projection on he :irch til) are given a whirling motion which r 1;. to forcibly throw the cimlcrs; and utiml pnrl iclw downwardly upon the upper or or-11rd surface of {he :HCh from which p --.i':ion thrgases are illU-iliiii to zigiiiii iillFW the pzuiicivs. Thev particles once having hcvn thrown down upon the arch, they gi'uvitufv (h;\\i1\\arilly to the lower end oi the tiliii. Ewing assisted in this morenmnt by the jarring or trcm hling: of the iocoinoiivn in in; progress over the rails. l have illiistr: {oil thr- (:imh-r 011i lct D as living made of nmturinl which will permit. its produuiion with rvhitiwly thin 'HllS. it, will he understood, however, that I could use other Illillfl'liilri which would xv i-(imitate the walls heing: smnui'vlmt thicker. The material which, l prcf or to use is :1 material vomposo'd of a rui'rm-tory suhstnnce and 2: mmzii so iiii .!'!ili *l(il that the metal is proivctod against i,ii..ilv;rrutioi1 hy the heat. ()nr: matnrinl of ihis. kind is that known as corimdinn, which is composed partly of cast iron and partly of carborun- (him, the cast iron serving as :1 matrix to hold the particles of a:

tion under the fire box gases.

As many modi mi. \Yill readily suggni in the m, I do not vention m the spa shown and described I claim:

A locomotive boiler V box, fluehheez Hues tiihl tion with ii nunihur of and upwardly and warn-a part of said flue 511.92%, rvi': supported by said in?) ing an imperforafo hail said flue sheet and extend of the firebox, 2L Vern pocket fixed heiwosm two the upper end of said chmsaid arch and its lower o said grate, and :1 mom iii-a oior 9 lower end of the chute hviow In testimony whoa-m. 1 iii??? my hand, this 22nd d y 4 the presence of two 5511i and will not he sin Witnesses:

JAS. T. ANTI-roux, EMILY L, Mums, 

